head to head · open source
kubernetes vs Digger
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars, 44,692 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. Digger has 5,044 stars, 611 forks, 482 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 2,435% (127,843 vs 5,044 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Digger is written in Go under MIT. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, Digger 12%. kubernetes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| kubernetes | Digger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 611 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 128K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Digger if
- You want the Digger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Digger fits your workflow better
About kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed system for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts, hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and aimed at teams who deploy, maintain and scale container packaged and microservices oriented workloads in production.
read the full kubernetes overview →
About Digger
Digger is an open source infrastructure as code orchestration tool written in Go and released under the MIT license. It runs Terraform natively inside an existing CI pipeline rather than on a separate hosted service, and it lives in the Terraform and OpenTofu ecosystem alongside the category of tools the project calls TACOS, or Terraform Automation and Collaboration Software. The project has been rebranded to OpenTaco as of 7 November 2025, while the company behind it remains Digger and the engine is unchanged.
read the full Digger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or Digger more popular?
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars and Digger has 5,044. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and Digger free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Digger under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and Digger?
kubernetes is written in Go and Digger in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kubernetes or Digger?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,843 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Digger if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.